Notre Dame RB Gray lost for season

There was no official MRI result and therefore no official public diagnosis, but the result was nonetheless clear: Jonas Gray won't play another game for Notre Dame.

The knee injury suffered by the senior tailback against Boston College will sideline him through a bowl game and beyond, Irish coach Brian Kelly confirmed during his Sunday teleconference.

"It's pretty apparent he has a significant knee injury," Kelly said, adding that the MRI results will "probably confirm" what the staff expects.

Gray finishes his senior season with 791 yards and 12 touchdowns, a rousing end to a career that saw him gain just 309 yards and zero touchdowns combined in his first three seasons with Notre Dame.

Notre Dame will turn to junior Cierre Wood, who began the season as the starter, to carry the load once again. Wood actually remains the team's leading rusher with 1,001 yards on the season.

And while freshmen George Atkinson III and Cam McDaniel represent the next names on the depth chart, Kelly did not rule out switching Theo Riddick from receiver back to his original running back spot - provided Riddick is healthy. The junior has missed two straight games with a hamstring injury.

"I think we'll look at all of those possibilities," Kelly said. "We're into a one-game season, so to speak, when it comes to Stanford. We'll sit down as a staff and first of all see what Theo is able to do physically and decide whether he can go into a running back position and help us out. We haven't made that decision but we'll certainly consider it."

Meanwhile, Kelly said his training staff is going to great pains to limit the team's exposure to a flu bug ravaging campus. Freshman Stephon Tuitt missed Saturday's game with the illness and his status will be determined Monday. Kelly said another player was in the infirmary between Saturday night and Sunday.

"Our training staff is in the process of cleaning the meeting rooms, the weight room, talking to players about their roommates," Kelly said. "We're actually on full alert because we've had so many guys affected by it at this point."